Murder charges filed in shooting

Wednesday

Sep 25, 2013 at 2:19 PM

Lois Westermeyer

A 27-year-old Pontiac man was released from a Springfield hospital and brought straight to the Livingston County Law and Justice Center Tuesday to face four first-degree murder charges for the shooting deaths of his mother and half brother in August.Cody Hetherington, appearing in court with a visible wound to his left cheek area, was alert and coherent when answering Judge Jennifer Bauknecht during a brief hearing Tuesday afternoon.The charges allege Hetherington shot his mother, Jean Corrice, 57, and his half brother Tyler Friant, in their room at the Palamar Motel on Aug. 20. He faces two counts for each of the victims.During the hearing Livingston County State’s Attorney Seth Uphoff asked the judge for permission to submit a supplemental statement to the probable cause previously laid out in a private hearing to secure an arrest warrant for Hetherington.However, Bauknecht said the probable cause provided had been enough to secure the arrest warrant and that there was no legal basis to allow additional statements.Uphoff then asked if he could read the supplement to the defendant and those in court, whereby some of the facts of the case would have been presented, but the judge stated that no other information should be provided at the time because Hetherington was in court without an attorney.When asked if he would be hiring his own attorney, Hetherington said “no,” and stated he had no income or assets. Bauknecht then appointed Public Defender Randal Morgan to the case.In what appeared to be an effort to accommodate Uphoff’s desire to get information to the public, the judge set a preliminary hearing for Monday, Sept. 30.Uphoff, appearing visibly frustrated at the judge’s denial, later filed a motion to substitute the judge.That motion will likely be heard by another 11th Judicial Circuit judge and will likely postpone any hearings until the matter is resolved.Pontiac Police Chief Jim Woolford, who was at the hearing, said the investigation had revealed that Hetherington had shot both Jean Corrice and Tyler Friant before using the firearm to shoot himself “causing serious injury to his face.”“The officers who responded to the scene found Cody lying on the floor, but when they entered he raised himself up. He was alert at the time,” Woolford said.However, the police chief again declined to state the type of weapon used or the order of who was shot and when.“This is still an ongoing investigation ,” Woolford added, “we just cannot release all the details at this time.” He again thanked the State Police Crime Scene Investigation Service, District 6 State Police, Livingston County Sheriff’s Police, Dwight and Fairbury police departments and the state’s attorney’s office for assisting in the case.Both he and Uphoff reiterated that they were “confident that the public is no longer in danger and that the offender alleged to have committed these crimes is in custody awaiting trial.”Because of ongoing medical needs, following the hearing Hetherington was taken by Livingston County authorities to the Peoria County Jail, which has a medical facility. He remains in custody on a $3 million bond, and would have to post $300,000 to be released.Uphoff did state that conviction upon the charges dealing with both victims could lead to a sentence of natural life in prison. Persons sentenced on murder convictions must serve 100 percent of the sentence, there is no “good-time” early release allowed.